Fibber McGee and Molly

In the 1930’s, radio programs were popular for their slapstick humor and sound effects. The Vic and Sade show was different. It relied on snappy, witty, and intelligent dialogue to carry the stories along.

Eventually, the dry humor caught on, but it took time. And while most programs showcased the silly antics of its actors, the Vic and Sade show was praised for work behind the scenes, specifically the man penning the scripts: Paul Rhymer.

Paul Ryhmer

Rhymer was a journalist and writer from Bloomington, Illinois, who created the show based on his own Midwest sensibilities. The protagonists, Vic and Sade Gook, were a married couple living in “a small house halfway up the next block.”

Rhymer gave the couple a folksy slang. He cleverly wrote each episode and carried storylines over like a serial.

Listeners especially enjoyed Rhymer’s knack for clever words and names. Ruthie Stembottom, Mrs. Applerot, Oyster Crecker and Charlie Razorscum were just a few of the colorful characters.

And the cities were mentioned too. Some you wished actually existed. like East Brain, Oregon; Sick River Junction, Missouri; and one strangely dark place only Rhymer could explain , but everyone else could only imagine: Dismal Seepage, Ohio.

Actors on the Vic & Sade show

Unfortunately, the Vic and Sade show is mostly forgotten today.

Why is difficult to explain. At the height of its popularity, the Vic and Sade show had a reported “devoted ” listening audience of 7-million. It was also briefly adapted to television in the 50’s. But it’s stars were mostly faceless and while most of the popular radio shows at the time ran in the evening, Rhymer’s show never got out of afternoons. It had an audience of mostly women, like television soap operas, but after ending its 14-year run in 1946, failed to capture the cult hero status that the prime time radio shows did.

In fact, it was another Midwestern couple, similar to Vic and Sade, but more physically expressive, who ruled the airwaves.

Airing in the evening, and coming to into homes from a fictional place called Wistful Vista, the stars, Jim and Marion Jordan of Peoria, Illinois, were better known to their large and devoted fans as Fibber McGee and Molly